Bitter Sweet
by GeminiSanzo
Summary: [COMPLETE] Aoyama and Ichigo have been going out for a while, only he's been acting horribly towards her lately. Pairings: RyouxIchigo, KeiichiroxOOC, LettucexPai, ZakuroxGin, MintxKishu, TartxPudding.
1. Avoiding Questions

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: The Aliens are now part of the Mew Mew staff at the café, and Ichigo's started being quieter than usual over the past week. Sometimes coming to work and demanding to wear a long sleeved shirt? What's going on?

Pairings: Let's see…guess, Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

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Chapter 1 – Avoiding questions.

It'd been a long while since the battle with the Aliens, who were now working with the Mew Mews at the café since they'd, come to stay on earth after a long thought about it. Kishu had long decided to give up on trying to get Ichigo to go out with him and instead asked Mint if she'd go with him. Tart had built up the courage to ask Pudding out, which was kept secret from the others for now, and the same had happened with Pai and Lettuce. On the other hand, Ryou had still been developing feelings for Ichigo, and wouldn't date anyone else and Keiichiro had a small thing for the new Mew Mew, Kiwi who'd moved over from England a year or two ago. Zakuro had shown interest in a boy that she was 'secretly' seeing over the past few months. The café had just opened, and everyone was present for work…everyone except a certain girl, Ichigo.

Ichigo rushed through the café doors, late again. Her arm was hidden securely under her jacket, or to be more precise about it, it was in a sling.

"Late again I see, typical Ichigo." Mint smirked from behind her teacup. Ichigo didn't retaliate like she would have. She had a very good excuse for being late, and that was where the arm came in, she'd had an 'accident' a while ago and went to the hospital.

She went straight for the changing room and got changed, then went straight to the kitchen, bypassing those that greeted her.

"Akasaka-san…" She said timidly to the older male. Keiichiro turned from what he was doing to face her. His usual happy smile turning into a concerned frown.

"Ichigo, what happened?" He spotted that her cheekbone was a little bruised and she had a slight cut on her forehead.

"Uh, nademonai… just an accident from this morning. I came to ask if I'd be able to do something other than serving for a while, it's going to be a little impossible."

"Is your arm broken?" He asked,

"No… just fractured." She said, quieting her voice down as she remembered what had happened to her that morning, so early to. Keiichiro could tell that something was seriously wrong, she'd been acting weird all week but now that he saw her like this he was beginning to get concerned, Ryou would probably be in a silent panic if he saw her.

"Fractured… shouldn't you be home resting? It'll take a while for the bone to heal."

Ichigo shook her head from side to side, she didn't want to go home, and it was going to be bad enough when she got home tonight never mind going back right now.

"Are you sure? I don't want you doing anything rash that'll be likely to put pressure on that arm Ichigo."

At that point Zakuro had made her way through to the kitchen to.

"Mint said you were acting odd, Ichigo. Are you ok?" Zakuro asked she hadn't noticed the sling yet.

"Yeah I'm fine." She replied gloomily to the older girl. Zakuro bowed her head a little, her instinct told her that Ichigo didn't want to talk bout something and so she left, hopefully she could get to talk to Ichigo on her own she didn't think Ichigo was really telling the truth. As Zakuro left to get to work with the others Kiwi had come into the kitchen, she looked to the depressed girl sitting at the table. Keiichiro knew that Kiwi had managed to get Ichigo to talk about something the other day when they both stayed behind to clear up while the others left for home.

"Akasaka-san, what's going on?" Kiwi asked as Ichigo began to sniff, and then started crying a little. Keiichiro looked to Kiwi, about to explain to her and then approached her.

"Come with me for a moment," he said walking by her, out of the kitchen and headed up to Ryou's room. They could talk about it up there while giving the red haired girl some time to calm down.

"Ryou, can we come in?" Keiichiro asked while knocking at the blonde haired boy's door.

"Yeah."

Keiichiro opened the door and slipped into the room followed by the dark-green haired girl.

"What's this about?" Ryou asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Ichigo,"

"Again? She's been acting weird over the last few days don't tell me she's not appeared." He moaned irritably.

"Oh she's here. Only looking worse than yesterday, I've asked her if she wanted to go home but she's refusing." Keiichiro paused for a moment then turned to the girl beside him, she could go keep an eye on Ichigo and try talking to her to see if she could any hints as to what really happened out of her.

Kiwi, could you look after her for the time being? We'll be back down in a moment."

"Sure thing," She replied dismissing herself quietly from the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryou asked, his face becoming concerned. Deep down Ryou knew what his true feelings towards the girl was, and they grew within every minute of the day, but he'd be damned if he was to ever show them when she was surrounded by everyone else, also she didn't need him bothering her with feelings since she'd already had a boyfriend Ao-something.

"Well, she's got a fractured arm, and a little bruising on the face. She said it was an accident but somehow I don't think it was, not from the way she's been acting Ryou. It's got me concerned as well as Zakuro and Kiwi, and I think the others are beginning to realise that Ichigo isn't acting herself…"

"AKASAKA-SAN, SHIROGANE-SAN!" Kiwi yelled, bursting back into the room, startling the two boys. She caught her breath back before continuing.

"Ichigo's gone, she ran off a couple of minutes ago after getting a phone call from someone. She sounded terrified when talking and looked terrified as she ran past me and out the back door, I tried to call after her but she wouldn't stop or answer me and I even chased her to the end of the path."

Keiichiro and Ryou looked at each other, that had settled it, there had to be something going on somewhere along the line.

"Can you and Zakuro take charge? Ryou and I shall go look for her."

Kiwi nodded and returned to downstairs, she couldn't describe how terrified Ichigo had looked after coming off the phone. She looked like someone had just threatened to do something to her if she didn't obey, and she didn't know just how right she was. She looked outside, it was now pouring down whereas a few minutes ago it was bright and sunny, and something didn't feel right to her. Zakuro felt the same way, uneasy and worrying about the younger girl. Kiwi made her way through to the kitchen as Zakuro had taken to cleaning the dishes since Keiichiro had gone upstairs.

"Zakuro, Akasaka and Shirogane-san are away out to look for her; they seem concerned as much as we do. We've been left in charge."

"Alright, let's try and keep calm about it, we don't want to have everyone worrying about her, otherwise things will just get hectic."

There was a loud crash from the main part of the café, Zakuro's eyes narrowed a little as Kiwi sweat dropped.

"If they weren't already hectic that is. Come on we better go check out the damage then count how many plates we have left."

Kiwi giggled in response to the comment, she found Zakuro funny in a way even though she knew that she was the serious type.

Just outside the café's entrance path stood Keiichiro and Ryou, they didn't know which way the girl could have went; it then struck Ryou that she could very well be at the park. Without another thought they sprinted off towards the park, the bad vibes tingling within them both grew stronger. To top it off, Ichigo's week had started off with not having enough sleep, then to coming in and having various bruises on her body from a lot of 'accidents' and she'd only ever ran off without telling anyone the once, two days ago, and now she had a fractured arm and a worse bruise to the face with added cuts. They had to find out what in hell was going on.

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Okies this is the new story. Which hasn't been proof read, as i'm havingtrouble with the stupid word program and my bf hasn't got round to doing it. I should have chapter 6 of Opening Up, uploaded tomorrow (hopefully -.-) 


	2. Truth Revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: The Aliens are now part of the Mew Mew staff at the café, and Ichigo's started being quieter than usual over the past week. Ryou and Keiichiro have gone after her as she ran off. Can anyone get anything out of her?

Pairings: Let's see…guess, Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

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Chapter 2 – Truth revealed

Shirogane and Akasaka reached the park, both of them panting slightly, out of breath. It was still pouring down with rain, and there wasn't any sign of Ichigo.

"Damnit, where else could she have gone?" Ryou hissed under his breath.

"Shh, listen carefully." Keiichiro muttered. They had to listen incase it was Ichigo, she'd never run off before, well this was the second time and she hadn't told anyone about it. Kiwi was lucky enough to catch her as she ran off this time. Both boys headed off towards the noise, as they got closer they could make out a rather shaken female voice which belonged to Ichigo right enough. Ryou caught a glimpse of who was with her and quickened his pace a little before Keiichiro took his wrist to stop him.

"Wait. We should at least try to find out if anything's wrong here."

Ryou never replied, but he was certain of one thing, if Aoyama wasn't treating Ichigo right, like he said he was doing then he'd make sure that he was sorrier than he'd ever been in his life. Quietly listening they couldn't hear much being said between the pair of them. Keiichiro thought that maybe Aoyama had heard something and quickly changed the topic. Ryou couldn't take it anymore, so he got out from his hiding place concealed from Aoyama's line of vision to out in the open, he acted like he was still looking for Ichigo without noticing them.

"Ichi- oh, there you are, Ichigo." He said turning to them, Keiichiro followed a minute or so later. Aoyama stared at the older boys trying not to narrow his eyes at them giving himself away; he leaned in towards Ichigo, keeping his voice low enough so they couldn't hear him.

"_Remember, don't say a word… or else_." He muttered pulling away and returning to his normal position he was in.

"Well, I'll let you get back to work. See you later love." He spoke as he walked off, waving to the three. Ichigo wiped her eyes, and since it was raining it'd hopefully hide the fact that she'd been crying.

"Ichigo? Are you ok?" Keiichiro asked. Ichigo even ignored him and walked straight past them, heading back to the café.

"Damnit Ichigo!" Ryou shouted after the girl, Keiichiro sighed and turned to the younger male.

"For her to ignore a question from me there must be something terribly wrong."

"Yeah and I think it has something to do with that Aoyama prat!" Ryou replied stopping to look back at the path Aoyama walked down. He'd find out one way or the other what was going on. The two walked behind Ichigo all the way back to the café, if they tried to catch up to her she'd quicken her pace, maybe one of the girls could get it out of her, Zakuro or Kiwi would probably be able to do it no problem.

"Do you think she'll be meeting up with him again after they've finished up?" Ryou questioned Keiichiro, who in return just shrugged unsure of the answer.

Reaching the café they went through the back door, Zakuro and Kiwi managing to keep the café under control as expected. Ryou had managed to talk Ichigo into going up to his room for a bit so that the girls and the aliens wouldn't start bombarding her with questions. Keiichiro went back to his washing up and handling the kitchen as Ryou was busy upstairs trying to get something out of her by the sounds of it, Ichigo was yelling that she wouldn't tell him, it was getting into an argument. At this point Kiwi had come to the kitchen to hand over an order. Keiichiro sighed as he took it then turned to her.

"You fancy going up there to see if you can get anything out of Ichigo, and tell Ryou to come down here."

"Sure thing," She said walking off and up to Ryou's room. She stood outside it listening for a split second or two before knocking on the door, with no reply she muttered something before turning the handle and walking into the room. Ichigo and Ryou now turned to look at her.

"Shirogane-san, you're wanted downstairs." She said she'd also have to ask what he managed to get out of her. She stood back in the hallway waiting for Ryou to come out, after he closed the door, she talked to him in English as Ichigo still hadn't managed to keep much of the language in her head, therefore she wouldn't be able to understand a lot of what was being said between them.

"What's happened? Did you manage to get anything out of her?"

"Not a thing. She refuses to tell me anything, all Keiichiro and I know is that she was with that boyfriend of hers." He replied back, leaning up against the wall, he felt really guilty now for losing his cool with the red-haired girl.

"Right, well, I'll try to get something out of her, Akasaka-san sent me up to do just that actually."

"Good luck, you'll need it."

"I'll come back down when I'm done." She said putting her hand round the door handle again.

"Alright, see you later."

She sauntered into the room and closed the door behind her, she then walked up to Ichigo who was sitting on the bed and sat next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders.

"Ichigo, no one likes to see you this down, what's wrong?"

"Noth-"

"I know it's something. If there was nothing wrong you wouldn't be this down. Everyone's worried about you."

"Shirogane-san's not… he's always mean to me when I'm down." Ichigo sighed, leaning into the older girl beside her, she needed a hug from someone and Kiwi being able to notice this small fact hugged her in a friendly reassuring way, it'd help calm the other person down a slight bit and hopefully then she'd be able to get her talking about the whole thing. Ichigo hugged her back, and sniffed a couple of times, Kiwi looked down at her she could see that Ichigo had been crying for a while now, her eyes were bloodshot and the skin around her eyes were reddened.

"Do you want to tell me what happened, Ichigo?" Kiwi asked her gently. When she lived in England and in Scotland, she had gone through this sort of thing with a few friends, males and females so she knew how to approach this situation well. Ichigo took a minute or two to reply, she knew that if Kiwi was told everything then she was likely to tell Shirogane and the others… or maybe just those that could be trusted.

"Yeah…"

"Ok and I can't promise to keep any secrets. If it's a really bad thing, then I'll tell Shirogane and Akasaka-san ok?"

"N…Ok."

"Good. Now, tell me what's happened, from the start. It's been going on longer than today I can tell that much."

"It's Aoyama-kun. He's not been himself lately, last week before this all happened he was acting strange but a couple of days later he began to get nasty." She paused.

"And, what happened after he got nasty?"

"He, started to…order me about, eventually threatening me if I didn't go along with what he said. If I was ever late for meeting up he'd make sure I was sorry," She said, indicating her arm and the bruises on her face. Kiwi's eyes were narrowed slightly, oh how she'd smack this boy about if no one else had killed him first, then again she could always make sure he was dead as a stone.

"Is that why you suddenly took off earlier, to go see him otherwise he'd hurt you?"

"Yes."

"Has he been drinking or anything? You know doing things that could possibly trigger the aggression?" Kiwi hated to admit this to herself but Aoyama was sounding like her own father, he was one of the reasons she wanted to move permanently to Japan. She figured she might as well ask her that, it could very well be anything from drink, drugs to simple anger management issues.

"He sometimes drinks, when he goes out with his other friends, I don't know how much he has or if he has any at home. He's sometimes nice to me and sometimes horrible, that's when he gets nasty."

"I see. Are you planning on meeting up with him after work?"

"He… said that he was coming here to pick me up."

"Oh, I see. Well, I better get downstairs. You should stay here for a bit just to clear your mind. If you want my advice Ichigo, it'd be to dump that good for nothing male, steer clear of him and find someone who'd treat you right. You of all people don't deserve to be pushed around or hurt for no reason."

"Have you…dealt with things like this before?" Ichigo asked turning her face up towards Kiwi, who was heading to the door. Kiwi stopped and looked over her own shoulder.

"To many times, I hate seeing friends getting hurt especially when it's these issues."

With that she left the room, she couldn't show Ichigo any anger or sadness, not yet anyway. She made her way back through to the kitchen where Ryou and Keiichiro were talking, both of them looked to her as she entered.

"Well?" Keiichiro asked.

"Did you get any information out of her?" Ryou asked, sitting down at the table.

"Too damn right I did," She replied and sat down across from him, Keiichiro stood and listened while working at the same time. Kiwi started to tell the two of them everything that Ichigo had told her. She could tell by the way Shirogane's expression was going that he wasn't to pleased with what he was hearing, in fact it was probably just as well Ichigo never told him first, the outcome of his reaction could have been the worst, he may have took off as soon as he found out and would have probably started to hunt Aoyama down, but who wouldn't?

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2nd chapter. (this hasn't been proofread either -.-; aheh) To tell the truth i'm uploading this one all at once without the proof reading, however i shall update it with the new and improved one once my bf comes to eventually reading it. 


	3. Rage

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, some swearing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: Kiwi found out the truth and kept her rage restrained. She's told Ryou and Keiichiro who aren't taking it well either. They have to keep things cool for now until they can think of a way to help Ichigo, and Ryou's suggestions may well be taken into thought later on especially since they have the Aliens to help them.

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

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Chapter 3 – Rage

"HE WHAT?" Ryou yelled while standing up after kiwi told him and Keiichiro what happened. "I'm going to fucking _kill_ that bastard!"

"Ryou calm down, we shouldn't rush into things." Keiichiro said, placing a hand on the now angered boys shoulder. He sat back down, but the angered expression hadn't left his face, Keiichiro was keeping his anger at bay as was Kiwi.

"Fine, I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep my head on when he comes to pick her up. Someone will have to restrain me."

"Just restrain you? I think we'd have to restrain each other from ripping that little…thing… apart, Shirogane-san." Kiwi said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Point taken, so how do we go about this?" He asked with a sigh.

"Well, I think we should try and convince Ichigo to tell him where to go, and see how it goes from there." She replied then looked to Keiichiro.

"It sounds reasonable, and I have an idea of how to do it to." He said, a very rare smirk crossing his face.

"Oh? What would be on your mind, Akasaka-san?"

"If he's coming here to pick her up, she could tell him then, in front of every one of us. Ryou or I could take her home just to make sure she's safe, and then we could work something out from there?"

"Sounds like a good plan Keiichiro." Ryou said standing up again. He made his way out the kitchen and looked back at them over his shoulder.

"I'm going to go have a talk with Ichigo, I'll try and convince her to get rid of him."

Ryou made his way up to his room and walked in. Ichigo was lying on his bed curled up. She wasn't asleep, although she looked like she could do with some sleep. He felt a pain wash over him when he looked at her in this state, her fractured arm, her bruised face. It made him wonder if there was any other bruising to her body, he couldn't watch her suffer. He was cursing himself for not taking the chance of asking her out when he had it, if he had done so he wouldn't have to be seeing her like this. Pushing the current thought of what could have happened if he had out of the way he approached the girl with caution he didn't want Ichigo to think that he was about to start yelling at her.

"Ichigo?" He said gently to her as he sat on the bed not to far from her. Ichigo looked up at him, apparently she'd been crying again while they were talking about it downstairs in the kitchen. That pain washed over him again, his heart felt as though it was clenching so hard it'd implode itself, he really couldn't stand this at all.

"I know what happened. Why didn't you tell someone before?" He asked, keeping as calm as he could as well as keeping most of his emotions back apart from those that were needed right now.

"I…couldn't." was all she replied with, Ryou's eyes narrowed slightly in response to the answer, so his thought earlier was true, Aoyama had been the cause. He decided to see if he could find out a little more than what Kiwi had managed to obtain.

"Why could you not tell anyone what he was doing to you?"

"He said he'd do stuff to me, a lot more than hitting me."

"Like what?"

"He said he'd…" She couldn't say what he said he'd do to her, the Aoyama she used to know wouldn't ever think of doing that to her, but the old Aoyama wasn't there anymore.

"Ichigo tell me." Ryou pleaded, he was fearing the worst of what Ichigo was going to tell him.

'_Please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me, Ichigo._' He thought desperately as he watched her mouth move slightly. She shut her mouth again and shut her eyes tightly, covering her face with the one free hand as tears stung the back of her eyes threatening to flow at any minute. He knew then it had to be the thing he was thinking of, and now there was only one way of finding out.

"Did he he'd rape you if you told anyone." He didn't want to ask, but he had to. He kept his eye on Ichigo, watching for any body language that told him he was right, he guessed she wouldn't say something. A nod of her head confirmed that he was right, his fist clenched at the side of him as his anger level rose a little, Ryou was going to seriously give Aoyama an ass kicking as soon as they had sorted something out.

"Ichigo, we were discussing this downstairs… when he comes to pick you up, refuse to go with him."

"But he-" She began, Ryou cut her off however.

"But nothing! We'll be there with you Ichigo. He's more than likely going to wait until you're alone or something isn't he?" With this, he got a nod out of Ichigo.

"So, we'll let the others leave, but Keiichiro, Kiwi and I will be there to help you. We won't tell the others anything until tomorrow. Keiichiro will take you home today to, but do me a favour, Ichigo. Tell that prick Aoyama to get lost, you don't need him."

Ichigo looked at Ryou, a bit bewildered at why he was now acting nicer to her than he had in the past few days, maybe Kiwi had hit a nerve in him or something, she didn't know. She knew that both Ryou and Kiwi were right, she had to get rid of Aoyama, but she was frightened of what could happen if she did so, even though the three would be there she still felt extremely frightened.

"Alright…I'll try."

"You'll try? No, try you will do so, Ichigo. I'm not going to sit back and relax while watching you get hurt by that bastard, and I don't think Keiichiro, Kiwi and Zakuro are either!"

"Zakuro knows?"

"No, but she does think that there's something seriously wrong. She does have the wolf genes after all."

"Oh,"

"Anyway, can you come downstairs once you're ready to and talk to us? You can help Keiichiro in the kitchen, I'll help out in the café until your arms better."

"Sure… Ok, I'll be down soon." She said sitting up watching Ryou head for the door.

"Oh, Shirogane-san."

"Hm?" He replied turning to her. She reached into the bag on the floor and took her phone out and held it to him.

"Could you…take care of any phone calls, or get Kiwi to deal with any?"

"Alright, do you think he's going to call again?"

"Yes, probably within the next hour or so."

"Right, come down soon."

Ryou left without waiting for a reply, he was still thinking about the possibility of other bruises being on her body he was determined to get Kiwi to find out for him, he wouldn't be able to relax a little without knowing, when he got down he pulled Kiwi aside and asked her to do him the small favour, she agreed and headed up again while Ryou went out to the café area to help out with orders as it was really busy today. Ryou had left Ichigo's mobile on the counter in the kitchen with Keiichiro leaving him to deal with any call that would come through for the time being.

It was only ten minutes or so before Kiwi emerged back downstairs along with Ichigo who looked slightly happier than earlier. She left her with Keiichiro and sauntered on through to the café again letting Ryou know of the few bruises and cuts she'd found on her. Ryou wasn't exactly feeling relieved, he was going to go for that Aoyama although he knew he couldn't he had to play along with the plans for now, they had to catch Aoyama out in some way that he wouldn't think Ichigo had told them anything.

Not any more than a few hours later, everyone started to leave. Mint and Kishu were off to the movies, Pai and Lettuce were going out for dinner, Tart and Pudding went off to anywhere they could have fun and Zakuro was off to meet someone. Kiwi always stayed behind to help Ichigo clear up for the night, but this time Ichigo wasn't allowed to help with the arm, she could help Keiichiro tidy the kitchen a little bit but she had to leave the main part of the café to her and Ryou. The two looked up as the doors swung open, a happy looking Aoyama walked into the building, Kiwi played it cool but Ryou had trouble keeping himself in line. Kiwi had to think fast before he messed the plan up.

"Ryou, go get Ichigo from the kitchen will you?"

"…"

'Thank god, that was closer than I'd have liked it to be.' Kiwi thought to herself with inward relieved sigh.

"Had a good day, Kiwi?" He asked her, still keeping that smile on his face, like the old Aoyama had done.

"Yeah, it's been tiring and busy but still quite enjoyable."

"A-Aoyama-kun." Ichigo said timidly from behind the older girl. She knew it was now or have everyone on her back and still be with Aoyama who'd be likey to abuse her more and more.

"Ah, Ichigo, glad you're still here I thought you may have gone home or something. Shall we get going then and leave your friends to it?"

"Uh, Aoyama-kun… there's something I've been wanting to tell you."

"Oh?" His expression changed slightly, from the happy smile to a sort of unhappy hidden death glaring snarl.

"Yeah…uh, I… I don't think…that, our relationship is… working very well, and I've been thinking that… we should…stop seeing each other." She stuttered, she knew that look on his face quite well. Ryou was just around the corner leaning up against the wall with Keiichiro, Kiwi was standing in front of Ichigo, still cleaning the table top.

"Is that so? Yeah I suppose you're right. Come on, I'll see you home then." He said beginning to turn. Ichigo looked at Kiwi with a half frightened look, it was now left to her to get Ichigo out of this. Ryou and Keiichiro were listening in, and automatically thought that Ichigo was about to go with him.

"Ichigo's getting a lift home, from Akasaka-san."

"Oh right, well then. I guess I'll see you later…Ichigo." He said turning to look at Ichigo with the glare in full view now. With that he left, Ryou and Keiichiro came from the corner and Kiwi looked down to Ichigo who was now on her knees on the floor.

"He's…going to…" She started, tears once again threatening to come to her face.

"He's going to get such an ass kicking if he touches you Ichigo." Ryou said, with a hint of anger in his voice as he watched the door. Ichigo looked up to him with an unsure look on her face, in a way she was glad that he was standing up for her, but she knew it must just be for this reason and after it was all sorted he'd no doubt be going back to his usual self. Before they knew it, they could hear the sound of her mobile going from the kitchen. Ichigo didn't want to answer it, she was to afraid to. Kiwi had an idea though if it was him.

"Ichigo, answer it. But put it on loud speaker so we can all hear it, alright?"

Ichigo nodded and went to get it and brought it through clicking the accept button and pressing it another time to switch it to loud speaker.

"A-Aoyama-kun…"

"_Ichigo, you better not have told any of them about what happened this morning not to mention anything else that's been going on!_"

"No, no… I haven't… why would I?"

"_Bitch, I know what you can be like, blabbing away to others about things that don't concern them. I swear if you have and you're lying to me I swear I'll goddamn well hurt you enough so you'll have to stay off work for a good long time!_"

"Ye-yeah…I'm not lying…"

"_We'll see, remember I can find out. I'll be around tomorrow morning early so be ready for me at nine sharp, you might get to go to work afterwords._"

Aoyama hung up after that, Ichigo clicked off and switched her phone off completely and fell onto her knees again, the tears that had threatened to flow were now escaping rapidly.

Kiwi knelt next to her and wrapped both her arms around her now huddled together form, trying to calm her down. Keiichiro was angered but now trying to stop Ryou from marching out the door and hunting the idiot down.

"What do we do now?" Keiichiro sighed, he couldn't think of anything to get Ichigo out of tomorrow's possible threat.

"I say we go kill that bastard!" Ryou snapped.

"Shirogane-san, calm down."

"I am calm! If I was to be any calmer I'd be freaking dead!"

"Shut up! I have a plan, it'll only work if I have permission from Ichigo." Kiwi said looking from Ryou back to Ichigo who'd now stopped crying again.

"What… would that be…" She asked.

"Would I be able to stay the night at yours? That way I could be with you tomorrow and make sure he does nothing to you."

"Or you could go over to hers, stay the night and then tell that prick that you and Ichigo are meeting up with Keiichiro and I?" Ryou suggested.

"That's an even better plan. There's safety in numbers, especially with Shirogane with you." Kiwi smiled. Ryou looked confused by that comment.

"Well look at you now, you're like a raging tiger or something determined to get a kill."

"I see, guess you're right." He smirked. All of this had put a small smile onto Ichigo's face. Ichigo phoned her parents to let them know that Kiwi was indeed going to be staying over night she had also text Aoyama to tell him straight that she was going out with the three of them to somewhere, hopefully he wouldn't call her or the house.

"So shall we get going then? We'll go to Kiwi's place first then straight to Ichigo's."

"Yep sure thing," Ichigo and Kiwi said.

They soon set off, Kiwi's place wasn't that far. She quickly got a few things together and went back out to the car and they were soon off to Ichigo's home. Keiichiro pulled up outside the house and turned to the girls.

"Ryou and I shall come by at eight, just to make it better timed."

"Right, see you tomorrow Akasaka-san." Ichigo said getting out of the car along with Kiwi.

"Goodnight." He called as they shut the door, he drove off waving back at them as they stood at the door waving at him.

"Will everything be ok, Kiwi?" Ichigo asked, opening the door. Kiwi nodded reassuringly to her.

"Sure they will, no one's going to sit back and watch you go through this. We'll fix this."

They entered the house and got a snack to take up to Ichigo's room where they got talking about a few other things that didn't involve today's incidents, instead they got talking about the team, Ichigo now bombarding Kiwi with questions about Keiichiro, they all knew that she had a slight crush on the guy.

Back at the café Keiichiro and Ryou were doing up some ideas for tomorrows specials for the menu as well as thinking about where they could take the girls for a few hours until they had to come to the café. Ryou decided to be funny and start asking Keiichiro questions about a certain someone he had a crush on.

"Ryou, don't be silly. She's probably already got someone anyway." Keiichiro argued calmly, his face going red a little.

"She doesn't, you should just go for it. I think you two would make a cute couple." He said with a grin.

"Hm, you think so? Wait a minute…RYOU, that's evil tricking me into saying that!"

"I know I couldn't help it. Anyway I'm going to go take a shower then head to bed, are you staying the night or what?"

"Yeah, I'll get some of this stuff done for tomorrow, that way I won't be rushing about like a lunatic trying to get a load of things done at the one time."

"Alright, the guest room's already set up so help yourself as always. Goodnight." Ryou said as he left. Keiichiro was now in thought, should he even attempt to give it a go, or should he leave it for a while longer? Oh well, back to business for now, he could think it over tomorrow as well as thinking over a way to help Ichigo. The fact that Aoyama may come by tomorrow as well had crossed his mind, they wouldn't let Aoyama have his ways.

* * *

Here's the 3rd and as i said not proof read. I'm writing up the 4th chapter now. I'll update all stories as soon as i can hope you're enjoying the story so far, i plan on making it longer than 6 chapters so that's the reason i've flung in a few other pairings into it. Also on the to do list is my intro for my other TMM OOC charrie, which i named...Grape o.O as in the red/black grape kind not green/white just to save confusion, and the other thing is...to scan pictures of Kiwi, Ichigo, Ryou, XX myerf lots and lots and freaking tons of art work to get scanned, CG'd and stuck up on Devart  



	4. Day out, mission Cheer up Ichigo

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, some swearing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: Today, Ryou and Keiichiro are taking Kiwi and Ichigo out for a while, Keiichiro's been thinking things over and the things Ryou said to him the night before. He won't tell his feelings at the moment, the same goes for Ryou as some plan comes to mind although both of them will _hint_ their feelings to both of the girls.

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

Chapter 4 – A Day Out

Keiichiro pulled the car up outside Ichigo's house at eight-thirty sharp. They had half an hour before Aoyama was to come around to the house and take Ichigo out. Ryou was the one to get out the car and go get them. Thankfully today was the weekend.

Ichigo's mother had answered the door and invited Ryou in while she went to get Ichigo and her friend. The girls had been up since seven in the morning and were just waiting around for them to get there. Today was a nice hot, bright sunny day; the weather alone had made them go out in shorts and thin strap shirts.

"I love the weather here, it's brilliant." Kiwi giggled as she followed Ichigo down the stairs.

"Ah, Good morning Shirogane-san," Both girls said with a polite bow.

"Morning ladies," He replied with a smile.

"Mum, we'll be going now. I'll see you at the usual time tonight."

"Ok honey, have fun." She called back to her daughter. Ichigo's mother didn't know the real reason as to why she had the bruising on her, but the story she'd been told was believed.

Ryou's eyes widened a little at Ichigo's figure, he'd only now seen the few bruises on her arms and legs and one at the hip as Kiwi had told him. Even Keiichiro couldn't help but notice them from the car, he didn't think it'd be that bad, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about the bruises, they were trying to get Ichigo back to her old self and not trying to get her to sink into a lower level of depression.

"So, where would you two like to go today?" Ryou asked looking round from the passenger seat to the two in the back.

"Oh I don't know, what do you suppose Ichigo?" Kiwi asked. To tell the truth Kiwi was still unfamiliar with the area even though she'd been living there for a while now.

"I don't know either, sorry."

"Well, how about we go to the mall and then maybe a trip to the beach for a few hours?" Keiichiro suggested. The three nodded their heads in agreement and were soon headed for the mall. Ryou and Keiichiro were somewhat loaded with cash; Kiwi was loaded but only just. Ichigo had a few yen on her but that was it, and no doubt if she were to complain someone would give her the money for something.

When they got to the mall they decided to spend at least an hour there, and then head to the beach for the rest of the time. Ryou stopped at a big notice board looking at a certain poster that gave him an idea. He called Keiichiro over quietly and quickly talked to him about a plan he had that he felt would be ideal for them all. Keiichiro could grasp onto the plan quickly enough to know why he'd be doing it, it was pretty sly of the blonde haired boy but he had to admit to it being a good plan. They left to catch up with the girls who had gone on ahead.

"So where should we head to first?" Kiwi asked looking around.

"How about to that music shop there?" Ichigo pointed to a place across from them.

"Yeah, sure." Ryou replied until a sudden idea struck him. Keiichiro didn't know it but Ryou was trying to hook him up with Kiwi.

"Keiichiro, do you and Kiwi fancy taking a look around?"

"Yeah, sounds like an idea. We could meet back here within the hour, it's nine now so say ten meet back here?"

"You've got it." Ryou smirked, while linking his arm with Ichigo, pulling her away over to the music store. Keiichiro thought that over for a minute when he saw that smirk, he'd get him back for that.

"So, shall we go then? Where'd you like to go first Kiwi?"

"Ah, any place just as long as it not an all clothes shop." She said with a smile. She was unlike a lot of girls; she detested looking at clothes unless she had to. She was more of a tomboy than a girly-girl. Keiichiro gave her a friendly smile and went to walk ahead of them.

"Shall we go into that bookstore over there, or would you prefer to pick?" He asked while pointing in the bookstore's direction.

"I'm fine with that Akasaka-san. Let's go." Kiwi replied rather hyper, she took Keiichiro's arm and began walking towards the store, she adored books, even the ones she couldn't read if they were in another language. Keiichiro blushed very slightly as she pulled him along.

It wasn't long before the four bumped into each other, Ichigo pulled Kiwi to the side for a moment as she had realised something.

"Ne, it's just occurred to me that we haven't got bathing suits…aheh." Ichigo said to her quietly.

"Oh yeah… how come it took us this long exactly?"

"I think we were to busy having fun?"

"Probably… I think that there's a shop not to far that Keiichiro and I walked by that does bathing suits. I need a new one anyway."

"Same here, let's go."

"Shirogane-san, Akasaka-san, Kiwi and I are just going to get something we'll meet you back at the place we arranged." Ichigo informed them as they both dived out of the current shop and into the clothes shop to quickly pick up a costume. Both boys looked confused at the sudden announcement, Ryou turned to Keiichiro.

"What do you suppose they're up to?" He asked.

"No idea, maybe they went to pick up some last minute things for the trip. Anyway, let's head back we'll just wait for them."

"Ok,"

Both boys wandered back to the spot where they'd arranged to meet up. The girls appeared back about five minutes later, a bag or two between them. Ryou's eyed the bags wondering what they had got.

"Girls love to shop in clothes shops I guess," He muttered, Kiwi unfortunately overhearing him from the side, just allowing it to slide. Ichigo and Keiichiro couldn't help but chuckle at the face she made though.

"Right, now shall we head off for the beach?" Keiichiro asked, beginning to walk on ahead of the trio. The three quickly followed him out to the car and set off for the beach. It'd only take them a couple of minutes to get there, with the speed that Keiichiro was driving at anyway.

When they got there, the girls left most of the stuff for the boys to handle, as they headed to the changing rooms to get changed into the bikini's they'd picked up from the shop earlier.

"Want to have a game of volleyball when we get out?" Ichigo asked, as she finished tying the sides' straps of her top together tightly. Kiwi had just finished tying the strings together at the side of the bottoms before she replied to her.

"Of course we will it's one of my favourite sports after all."

"Great, how about you and me against Akasaka and Shirogane-san?" Ichigo suggested.

"Yeah, but what if one of them don't play?"

"We'll force them to if we have to… and I have a great idea of what I can do to Shirogane-san."

"Oh? And that would be what?" Kiwi asked, blinking at her with an interested yet confused look.

"I was thinking we could get Akasaka-san to help us two, bury Shirogane-san… maybe throw in a few crabs and watch him squirm until he gives me a pay-rise?"

"Sounds great, apart from the crabs, you do that and he'll probably cut your wages for a long while."

"Damn, there goes that theory then, we can still bury him right?"

"Yep, then build a sand castle on top of him?"

"You're good at thinking up things, Kiwi."

"Aren't I though, I used to do that sort of thing to my brother ages ago when we were on holiday of course. You'd have to be mad to do it on a cold day in the UK."

The emerged from the changing rooms, giggles shared between them. They headed to where the other two were and sat down next to them under the big umbrella they got.

"Do you guys fancy a game of volleyball at all?" Kiwi asked them as Ichigo took out an inflatable beach ball from her bag that she brought with her and began to blow it up.

"Sure we will. Who's in whose team though?"

"Ichigo and I shall go together and you and Akasaka-san can go together."

"Ok, since we don't have a net we could just draw a long line and have two bags indicating the area I suppose." Ryou replied getting up and going to do just that.

Volleyball went on for about an hour, after that the girls went for a swim in the warm sea. Ryou and Keiichiro had retreated back to the shaded spot under the big sun umbrella to cool down from the heat.

"Time flies when you have fun, doesn't it." Ryou sighed looking at the watch beside him. Keiichiro took a glance at the time and nodded his head in agreement.

"Indeed it does, we should probably head off within the next hour. Say, what was that plan you had earlier? I knew we looked at a dance poster."

"I'll talk about it more when we get to the café, alright? There's actually two plans I have in store."

"I don't know whether to be worried or not."

"Hey, I'm not that bad."

"Joke, Ryou. Anyway, how about we start heading back?"

"Right. I'll get the girls and then we'll go."

Ryou called the girls and then headed to the changing cubicles and then headed back to the café.

* * *

ZOMG! Lookie a chapter O.O and not a very good one i'll admit > i've been looking at alllllllll the fics i have to get updated and aheh i have a ton of em o.O fun. I've done set chapter titles to basically concentrate on them. >> should have 5 and 6 up soon to ) sorry to keep you lot waiting. 


	5. Not Again!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, some swearing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: The four are on the way back to the café and they will be telling the others about the situation and as things go, they don't take it so well either especially Kishu who'd become a really good close friend to Ichigo almost like a brother so what happens when Aoyama dares to set foot in the café when everyone knows what he's been doing?

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

Chapter 5 – Not Again!

"We're not all that busy tonight are we?" Mint said glancing about at the customer number they currently had.

"Yeah, and we're usually busier during the end of the summer to," Lettuce replied as she walked by to give Keiichiro an order.

Ryou was upstairs doing something on his computer while everyone downstairs was busy. He was looking about for places he could use for one of his smaller party plans, if worst came to worst he's just use the café, it'd be big enough for the event. The bigger part of his plan however would need a much bigger place, and he wasn't going to use the same place as the last time, he had also came up with the idea of having mixed music. While they were in England looking for Kiwi a few years back, they'd traveled to the north in Scotland as planned after gaining the new member. They got invited to a dance that Kiwi had originally organized earlier that year, and Ryou quite enjoyed it as did the others, his only problem now was to find someone that'd be able to do it, although he'd have to probably ask Kiwi for her help.

"Shirogane-san?" Came a timid voice from the other side of the door. Ryou knew who it was and switched off the monitor just so she wouldn't find out what he was doing just yet.

"Come in."

Ichigo popped her head through the door, a small faint smile on her face. She let herself into the room and closed the door behind her then looked up to Ryou.

"I see you're dressed properly for a change." She smirked, she felt a bit better now. In fact she seemed to forget about what happened yesterday with Aoyama. Ryou raised a brow at her comment and crossed his arms over his chest.

"And just what is that suppose to mean, Ichigo?"

"Nothing, I'm kidding. Ne, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier."

"Oh, it's nothing. Shouldn't you be working?"

"We're just getting ready to clear up, haven't you seen the time?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't." Ryou replied in a low mutter as he turned to look at the clock which clearly stated that it was indeed time for closing up.

"Ok, I'll be down in a moment. Think you could do me a small favour?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Ask Keiichiro to come up. I need to discuss something with him, and also ask Kiwi if she could wait behind for a minute or two."

"Sure thing." Ichigo replied, seeing herself out of his room and downstairs to fetch Keiichiro. Keiichiro sauntered upstairs when the last customers were out and the girls and the aliens began to clear up.

"Kiwi, Ryou wants you to wait behind for some reason." Ichigo informed the older girl in the changing room.

"Ok," She replied.

"Ichigo, do you want one of us to walk home with you?" Zakuro asked the red haired girl just as she was ready for leaving the room. Ichigo stopped and turned, canting her head.

"Nah, I'll be fine. We haven't had any trouble so far."

"Well, if you're entirely sure, then we'll see you tomorrow." Mint said a little concerned about her going home alone after the other days performance. Ichigo got questioned by Kishu about going alone to, and he got the same answer as she gave the girls. She left the café and began to walk down the path on route to her house, and unknown to her there was something amiss.

Upstairs in the café, Ryou was discussing the final plans he'd come up with for the parties he felt like doing.

"I think that we should maybe have a small karaoke night within the café within the next few weeks maybe, and then nearer Christmas I think we should host a proper dance again?"

"That sounds a good plan, I'll be up for it. What sort of things are we planning for music?" Keiichiro asked as his eyes scanned the typed up list that Ryou had made.

"Well, I was thinking, something like the first one we held when we had Ichigo, Mint and Lettuce in the team, and also maybe some the music we heard when we were abroad."

"What was it called again?"

"Don't have a clue, that's why I asked Ichigo, to ask kiwi to stay behind, she'll have a better idea of who we could possibly get to do some."

"Fair enough, anyway shall we get going? I think the girls already left. Kishu, Pai and Tart should be clearing up."

"Did Ichigo go alone?" Ryou asked a little paranoid.

"I don't think so. Zakuro said something about walking her home to me earlier."

"Thank god for that. I was about to go into paranoid mode."

"You shouldn't worry too much, Ryou."

The boys made their way downstairs and into the café area, they had just finished clearing up. Keiichiro had gone into the kitchen to see what he had for tomorrow, and there was hardly anything. They'd have to get some things from the store not to far from the café before it closed for the night.

"Kishu, Tart would you two be able to run to the store that's five minutes away and get some stuff for me for tomorrow, please? I'll give you a list of what I'm needing."

"Sure, we'll be back in no time at all, come on Tart."

The two left the store to get the items as soon as they received the list, Keiichiro helped Pai clear up the kitchen while Ryou talked to Kiwi about the music.

Ichigo turned down an alley which would lead her to the store that Kishu would be going to. Her phone rang, she took it out the pocket of her jacket and stopped in her tracks when she saw who the caller was.

"A-Ao-Aoyama, what do y-y-you want?"

"You." The phone cut off after that and a sound of a trashcan falling came from behind her. She jumped and put the phone back into her pocket and ran as fast as she could, doubling back after he reached the corner, or she would have if she hadn't collided into someone, and that someone was someone that she didn't want to see.

"Found you, Ichigo."

* * *

Wooo another chapter, and a little shorter o.o the fun of it. anyhoo i'm onto chapter 7 already, chapter 6 follows 


	6. Kishu's Plan!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, some swearing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: Kishu's had enough of Aoyama, and has the urge to rid the world of him. What's this plot he has for the moron if he doesn't lay off his best friend, and who's going to agree with the plan?

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

Chapter 6 Kishu's Plan

Kishu and Tart weren't far from the shop when they heard cries for help, he recognised that voice, but placing it was difficult.

"Hey, do you here that, Tart?" He asked. Tart listened carefully then nodded.

"Should we check it out?"

"Let's,"

They both ran to the source of cries for help and who did they find other than the prat that had been causing Ichigo grief.

"Tart, go back to the café and get Ryou."

When Tart ran off in the direction of the café Kishu crept up behind Aoyama, who now had Ichigo pinned to a wall, a hand around her throat. He was threatening to strangle her if she didn't follow his orders and Kishu wasn't about to let him get away without at least a deep cut. He growled as his anger grew and he grabbed Aoyama around the throat and tightened his grip automatically, this made Aoyama's hand leave Ichigo's neck. When he began to gasp for air, Kishu smirked a little and pulled him closer to his face.

"How does it feel when you have someone holding your neck? Do you not like it, moron?" Kishu asked while throwing him to the ground, taking a stand in front of the red haired girl, who'd sank to her knees and had began to cry a lot harder than what she had been doing.

"Ichigo!" Ryou's voice came from the corner; he'd arrived with Tart after being on his way to the shop himself. Kishu's head turned towards the girl on the floor, his eyes hardening a little he hated to see her unhappy, he hated to see her crying and it made him angrier when someone was trying to kill her. He turned back to Aoyama, who had now stood clutching at his neck still gasping for air. Ryou however didn't let him stand for much longer, he'd sank his fist into the side of his cheek and made him smack off a wall. He'd then grabbed the collar of Aoyama's shirt and held him firmly against it, his free hand pinning his other hand incase he tried anything.

"If you EVER come near her again you bastard then you'll get a lot more than what I just done! Got that?" Ryou hissed at him. Aoyama looked terrified at this point simply nodded and ran off; he was most likely to have a good bruise on his face in the morning.

'I won't let you get away with this Ichigo…' He thought as he disappeared from their view.

Ryou looked back to Ichigo, she looked a mess, her hair was here and there, and her top was ripped as well as her skirt. Her face was dirty from where she'd fallen. He was hoping that Kiwi was still back at the café she said she'd help Keiichiro for a while. He looked up at Kishu and Tart.

"You two should go get the stuff that Keiichiro asked for then come back to the Café, I'll take Ichigo there."

"Right," They replied and walked off, Ryou scooped up the still sobbing girl in his arms and carried her back to the café.

Meanwhile in the shop Kishu's expression still hadn't changed he still felt that anger inside of him, then again who wouldn't still have anger in them after that? Tart looked at him with a bit of concern, when he saw Kishu this angry there was no telling in what he was thinking or what he would do.

"Kishu?"

"I'm fine." Yep things looked bad, especially if Kishu was to answer him straight away.

'_I'll make sure that, that bastard doesn't lay his hands on her again. But how to do it without causing a suspicious scene with the humans, especially those police people I've heard about_.' He thought while checking off the last item that was required on the list.

"Ne we should hurry and check if Ichigo's ok while she's still there." Kishu said as they walked out the shop heading towards the café up the road.

Back at the café Ryou, Keiichiro, Pai and Kiwi were attending to Ichigo's wounds, they hadn't noticed the actual damage that Aoyama had caused to her arms mainly. If Kishu were here right no- mistake, now that he was here he'd see the wounds and no doubt would get extremely pissed and hunt Aoyama down and kill him. Which wasn't all that bad by Ryou's standards nor Pai's they'd gladly help him out.

"Quick, pass me more bandages." Kiwi said as she managed to stop a lot of the bleeding from one of the wounds, luckily she knew her first aid as well as Keiichiro did.

"Ne I'd set up the guest room, Ryou. I don't think Ichigo's going to be going anywhere soon. I'll call her parents and tell her that she's spending the night at Kiwi's." Keiichiro said standing up and walking away. Ryou went to set up the guest room they had while Pai and Kiwi cleared up the rest of the smaller cuts and scratches. Kishu's face went emotionless, he could tell just from the amount of plasters and bandages that were on her, that she wasn't in a good way, how he'd kill that bastard if he saw him again. He knew it was time to start planning that plan that he had thought of earlier properly, but he would need the help to do it, and the boys were the only ones he'd want to help. He didn't want to drag the girls into the plan at all, he didn't want to see them hurt and he didn't want Ichigo to join in on it either. He turned to look down at Tart, his eyes clouded over with hidden anger.

"Tart, go put that stuff away in the kitchen I need to talk to Ryou," he said now making his way upstairs into the room that Ryou was preparing for Ichigo, he made himself known to the blonde boy by knocking on the door lightly.

"Kishu, what's the matter?" Ryou asked as he glanced to him while putting on some covers for the bed.

"Ichigo. I can't seem to let the urge of wanting to kill Aoyama go, it's driving me nuts, and I've been thinking for a little while now. What if we got rid of him, for good?"

"You mean…Kill him off?"

"Exactly what I mean. But I can't really figure out a good way of doing it, you know…" Kishu sighed.

"I know how you feel, I'm wanting to hunt that moron down and finish what I had started earlier."

"Same here, I can't believe you let him run." Kishu said, his yellow orbs now motioning in Ryou's direction.

"Ichigo is more important, it was better to get her seen to rather than deal with that idiot at the time."

"I see, well. I'll think more on that plan, because I'll make it go ahead if it's absolutely necessary to do so…"

"You can count me in already, Kishu."

"I was hoping you'd agree to it. I'll see you later on then."

"Yeah, night."

The others had finished taking care of Ichigo's wounds, she was now sleeping, it seemed she had cried herself to sleep. Pai, Tart and Kishu left the café and had gone home they'd no doubt be in the middle of discussing the plan that Kishu had very soon. Keiichiro watched Kiwi and Ichigo from where he stood, Kiwi looked like she was about to drop off on the spot, and why did he think that was cute? He walked across to them and knelt on one knee beside Kiwi and gently shook her shoulder, waking her up fully.

"Nyeh? Oh, Kei…uh, Akasaka-san?" She said tiredly yet going a little red in the face from addressing him wrong.

"Ne, call me Keiichiro if you want to. Are you wanting to spend the night here and help Ryou look after Ichigo? I don't think he'd manage on his own somehow."

"Uh, sure…yeah."

Keiichiro headed towards the stairs, Kiwi decided to take Ichigo upstairs with her and so picked her up and carried her to the room placing her on the bed. She had been given a spare cover and slept on the floor. Tomorrow everyone hoped that Ichigo would wake up and be alright.

* * *

Weee another slightly badly done chapter xD i was sort of asleep while i wrote this...that was a few hours ago annnnd i'm still pretty much shattered. aheh, ne hoo laters 


	7. Ichigo wake up!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…maybe killing, some swearing, bit of violence slight hints of sexual violence to. (No this is not a full on hentai fic…) and obviously characters are of legal age for me to do this -.-; if you don't take that in and then flame me for it then I shall have to laugh at your bakaness

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

Summary: Kishu's had enough of Aoyama, and has the urge to rid the world of him. What's this plot he has for the moron if he doesn't lay off his best friend, and who's going to agree with the plan?

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

Chapter 7 Ichigo Wake Up! 

It had been a day since Ichigo lay in the guestroom asleep soundly. The girls now knew about the situation and were slightly annoyed that they didn't know sooner about it.

Aoyama hadn't come looking for Ichigo either which meant he'd given up or he'd heeded Ryou's previous and last official warning and stayed away.

The girls were busy in the café it was indeed a busy day for them. However they didn't notice a certain couple come into the café and Lettuce was to busy to recognise the male in particular.

"What would you like for drinking?" She asked them getting a reply and quickly jotting it down to take to the kitchen. Lettuce paused momentarily she looked at the two from the spot just before she entered the kitchen. It couldn't be him, could it? She shook it off, it was probably just her imagination.

"Ne, Keiichiro, two orders here."

"Right. Kiwi, you want to take over this for me for the moment?"

"Sure."

Lettuce had gone back through with the drinks and was about to take their orders until she froze after glancing at the males face. It _was_ him, and he was here with a _new_ girl? She felt extremely sorry for the poor girl and she couldn't say anything unless he started trouble with them.

"H-have you decided what you'd like?"

"Yeah, we'll take the special please, Lettuce."

"Ok, shan't be too long, _sir_."

She walked quickly into the kitchen and gave Keiichiro the order and then tugged on his arm to talk to him.

"He's in here again, Akasaka-san. I know we can't do much about it, but I was thinking that Ryou might do something about it."

"Ah, that could prove a problem. Keep an eye on him for now, if he starts trouble get Zakuro to deal with him."

"Ok."

* * *

** Meanwhile upstairs in the guest room**

Ryou opened the door, his clear blue eyes making their way from the floor up onto the girl who lay in the bed, sound asleep still. He slipped into the room closing the room gently behind him and leaned up against it watching her silently. It took him at least five minutes to go on over to her and sit beside her.

'She looks cute when she's sleeping, but I wish she'd wake up.' He thought as his hand removed a strand or two from her face.

* * *

Lettuce was on her break, and so Kiwi filled in for her, she couldn't help but give a hidden death-glare to the boy as she set the special order down in front of him. She about turned and had just began to walk off before something that the girl said to him had caught her attention. 

"I wonder where their top waitress is." Aoyama said with a half-hearted smirk. The girl beside him turned her head to him.

"Who'd that be? The abusive girlfriend you had?" The girl gave a small laugh. Kiwi continued on to the kitchen, hoping she didn't have to go through there anytime soon.

"You ok there?" Keiichiro asked, giving her a smile.

"Sort of, a certain ass that we all know through there has been telling some convincing lies to the female he's with apparently."

"Oh?"

"Apparently Aoyama has told that female that Ichigo was the more abusive partner."

"That bastard." Keiichiro replied with a clear hint of annoyance.

"Yeah that's what I thought."

"We'll still have to play it cool. We can't do anything until he really begins starting up."

"I will, it's Kishu I'm more worried about, you know what his te-" She was cut off by the sound of plates crashing from the main part of the café. Thankfully it was only Tart dropping a plate or three.

"Kiwi, plates to be cleared away from table eight!"

"Geh, coming…Later Akasaka-san."

Kiwi collected the empty plates and glasses from the table only to get a question from Aoyama.

"Hey, you. Where's Ichigo today, is she playing sick?"

"It's a pity, I'd love to have given that bitch a good seeing to." The girl said with a grin. Kiwi nearly lost it at that point but instead replied calmly in English to Aoyama.

"You of all people should know why Ichigo isn't here. Any more crap from you moron and I'll call Ryou down, and I doubt you're really wanting to see him at the moment."

At that point Aoyama's eyes did seem to widen a little, even he hated to admit it but she'd caught him there, Ryou was one person he didn't want to see. He tried to keep his sudden fear hidden and looked up to her innocently.

"Can we have the bill now please."

"Certainly, just a moment."

She was back within minutes taking their cash and then watching them leave the building, her eyes not coming off the door until it had closed. She headed back into the kitchen to work with Keiichiro as they were still pretty busy tonight.

"So is he away then? You look a little happier." He said greeting her.

"Too damned straight he's away, I think I mentioned something that scared him a little."

"That being, what?"

"I think he forgot that Shirogane-san lived here."

For once in a long time, Keiichiro's smirk had grown into a grin.

"That could have been interested."

"Indeed."

They soon got back to work, Keiichiro had yet again ran out of stuff due it being so busy that night. He went to ask the boys to go to the store and get things while the girls apart from Kiwi and Zakuro stayed behind to help clean up the place. Up in the room Ryou had fallen asleep beside Ichigo, sitting up he soon came to after having a weird dream, his eyes glanced down to the sleeping kitten next to him. She still hadn't woken up yet, not even moved from the spot she was in from this morning. With a sigh he got up and left for his own room he didn't want to spend all night in there while she was in that state.

'Maybe she'll wake up tomorrow.' He thought as he got changed for bed, and slipped under the covers, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

XX okies chapter 7 D Only a couple more chapters to go and this will be completed Then i can work more on that sequel for 'Opening Up' >>; ne hoo those who hate...wait hate is to harsh...for those that despise Aoyama that much they feel like throwing him from the face of space (if it were possible) then you will surely like my next chapter ) I would have made it this one buuuuuuuut nyu decided not to x) Anyhoo hope to update soon Ja ne. 


	8. Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness, Masaya harming…violence, Swearing and an unhappy Keiichiro (lol)

Other notes: I've put Kiwi into this one couldn't help it.

**Summary: This time Aoyama has gone too far and the boys have had it with him, they put Kishu's plan into 'go' mode. Will Ichigo wake up or will the worst occur?**

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

Chapter 8 Death

Ryou awoke to banging, and shouting from downstairs. He looked up at the clock, what the hell was going on at this time in the morning? The clock stated that it was about seven o'clock, the only ones that should be here were Keiichiro, Kiwi, Kishu, Pai,Ichigo and himself, and it was very highly unlikely that Keiichiro and Kiwi were arguing. Getting up he got freshened up and changed, then headed downstairs the voices were getting clearer as he went down. They were saying a name, but who's? Aoyama? He was fully awake now, he quickened his pace to the main part of the café. There stood Aoyama on his own trying to get his own way. He was claiming that he wanted to see Ichigo, that he was sorry for everything he'd done, it was all a dare? Kishu and Keiichiro were the ones who were raising their voices at the boy, Kiwi and Pai had to hold them back from lunging at him, even thought they didn't want to hold them back never mind not lunge at him themselves.

"LET ME SEE HER! I EVEN GOT RID OF THAT SLUT I WAS WITH TO GET ICHIGO BACK" Aoyama yelled.

"LIKE HELL WE'LL LET YOU SEE HER, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PIECE OF SCUM!" Kishu yelled back at him, desperately trying to get out of Pai's grip so he could rip the moron to shreds.

"SCUM! HAH LOOK WHO'S TALKING, YOU'RE LOWER THAN SCUM!"

"WHAT! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, RETARD!"

"But Kishu, he'd make such a bloody mess. It'd be troublesome to clear it all up." Ryou said calmly but eerily from behind them. All heads turned to Ryou, they never expected him to look so calm, not when he wasn't that far from the twerp.

"I seriously think you better leave my café, Aoyama. You're not getting to see Ichigo. Period." He stated the look on Aoyama's face changed from anger to fury.

"SHE'S MY BITCH, NOT YOURS!" He screeched at the blonde haired boy, who continued to keep his anger at bay.

"She's _nobodies_ bitch, she's not a dog. Now, get the hell out of here before I break you into tiny bits that people will mistake you for bug food. Do I make myself clear?" Ryou asked, his eyes now narrowing dangerously that put fear into Aoyama's very soul. He backed down and ran out the café swearing that he'd return to get Ichigo as he knew that she was now staying here. He'd been up to her house and her parents told him that she was staying with Kiwi for a while so she could keep her English skills up. After he left, Kishu and Keiichiro had cooled off.

"I got woken up by all this screaming, I'm surprised you didn't wake Ichigo up."

"Sorry about that Ryou." Keiichiro apologised to his friend.

"It's ok. You don't lose your cool that often. I don't blame you though. What happened?"

"Well, Aoyama had come in while Kiwi was setting the tables up. Kishu and Pai were in the changing rooms, I was in the kitchen doing what I usually do. I heard voices, and so I decided to investigate because I could hardly recognise the male voice that was conversing with Kiwi. When I went through he'd nearly gone for her and I stepped in at that point, that's when he began to say he wanted to apologise to Ichigo. It got out of hand from there and eventually Kishu and Pai came out of the rooms and helped out."

"I see. If that moron comes around later on, let him enter but only if he's going to act civilised." Ryou said.

"But how's he going to act that if he comes alone?" Kishu asked.

"Oh, I know he won't. What was that idea that you had a day ago?"

"Oh that, it was to get rid of him once and for all, we have it all set out incase we need to use it." He said, a small grin coming to his face.

"Good. If we can aggravate him badly that may result in him attacking us first, then we can get him where we want him. Do you see my plan?"

"Crystal clear." Pai replied. He got it anyway.

"Good, we'll close early, we don't want anyone else involved in Kishu's plan, we'll keep the girls here to keep an eye on Ichigo incase she wakes up and tries to do her usual and walk about."

"Got it."

"Alright, let's get ready for opening then." Ryou said as he turned and went upstairs to check on Ichigo, he was starting to worry that she was sleeping still, it'd been a day or two already. He opened the door and looked at her, she still looked pretty when she slept.

Finally, closing time, Aoyama still hadn't appeared to cause any trouble. The girls had all been told of the plan, and they somehow managed to convince themselves to agree to it.

The plan was to aggravate Aoyama to the point where he'd go for them, they'd deal with him and then Kishu would finish him off by teleporting him to an 'empty' space where he'd make Aoyama suffer and finish him. No one would be able to tell what had happened to him, so they weren't likely to be suspects of anything, not when the aliens were there to help with matters anyway.

The girls were up in the room, they'd got Ichigo changed into some other clothing, and had changed the bandages and plasters, they'd stay there and keep watch over her for as long as it took the others to do what they had to do.

A loud bang from downstairs let them know that a certain prat had finally showed up, this is where they knew things would get interesting.

"What do you want? We're closed, or have you gone blind to, Aoyama?" Kishu asked sarcastically.

"You should know what I'm here for!" He spat back, not scared of any of them.

"Hm, nope. You were told quite clearly that you weren't getting to see Ichigo sooooo I don't know what you could be after now." Kishu replied.

"You fucking moron, don't keep that sarcastic act up with me. Or you'll be sorry."

"Actually Aoyama," Pai said from behind the boy, making him jump nearly through the ceiling.

"The only one that is going to be sorry here, is you." Ryou finished appearing from the side.

"What are you talking about?" he asked irritated by him already.

"You know exactly what he means, moron." Keiichiro said in an extremely low voice that gave a hint of danger.

"For fuck sake, if you'd just let me see Ichigo and let me apologise to her then I wouldn't be standing here arguing with twats like you!" Aoyama shouted at them.

"We told you there wasn't a chance in hell that you were getting to see her. However if you think you can get to her, then try and get past us first." Kishu growled at him.

"Yeah? Are you challenging me you pointy-eared fucked in the head thing for a so called alien?"

"What kind of insult was that? I've heard better insults from plants!" Kishu retorted.

"Why you fucking son of a bitch!" That was it, Aoyama dashed at Kishu his fist ready to be thrown into his face, he'd connect he'd make damn sure it would. Wrong. Kishu was already at him and had punched him between the ribs, which could have seriously put him at deaths door, but no. Where was the fun in killing him with one blow? Aoyama now gasping for air on the floor struggled to get up and take another run at Kishu only to get floored by Tart who'd side kicked him in the head. He growled to himself, he wasn't going to give up, not now. He got up again and tried to run again this time at Keiichiro, he didn't think that he'd put up much of a fight, but he was so wrong.

Keiichiro had caught Aoyama's punch and twisted his arm so fast that all anyone heard was a snap before a yelling Aoyama, now squirming on the floor. All faces turned to Keiichiro for a moment in shock, Keiichiro just smiled innocently.

Pai didn't bother to do anything other than block the door incase he tried to escape. Ryou calmly walked up to the still squirming Aoyama and pulled him up towards him by the collar of his shirt before using his free hand to smack him really hard across the face. Blood started to show from Aoyama's mouth seconds after Ryou's impact, Aoyama was now sputtering blood as he desperately tried to get away from them.

Ryou wasn't done with this pathetic creature he saw before him however. He kicked him in the shins, nearly breaking Aoyama's leg with one kick. Aoyama was now screaming his lungs out. Begging for mercy, but were the boys about to show him any? Where they hell!

"Kishu, do it now." Ryou said to him, his anger now all out of him. He'd done quite a number on Aoyama, for if he was to live after what Kishu planned to do with him, then he'd be unrecognisable to anyone that he knew. Kishu's smirk grew into a deadly grin, he took hold of the boy and teleported of the area, into an empty space as planned, somewhere like they used to go when working for Deep-Blue. He threw him against some pointy rocks which resulted in a few crunches. Kishu took out his weapons and walked up to Aoyama with a dark look on his face.

"P-pleas-e, s-s-s-pa-re m-me…" Aoyama begged.

"Spare you? After what you done to my best friend who's now like a sister to me? I think not, you fucking creep. You don't deserve to live."

"I-i-m so-rr-y" He winced, in between gasps for air.

"You're what? Sorry… HAH, sorry but I don't believe you for a second. You're not sorry at all. You're not going to forget this for the last few minutes of your pathetic life and you'll not even forget this in the afterlife."

With that Kishu rammed both of the weapons into Aoyama, one through the throat that cut his screams of pain out instantly and one through his heart, killing him instantly.

Kishu cleaned off his weapons and returned back to the café, everyone was soon back to normal after he returned.

They heard clattering and banging from upstairs and looked at each other with a raised brow wondering what was going on. Suddenly Mint, Pudding and Lettuce had rushed downstairs, their eyes wide with what looked like fear.

"Shirogane-san, Akasaka-san! Come quickly!" Lettuce shouted,

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ryou asked raising his voice that showed concern.

"It's Ichigo shes…" Mint started her eyes beginning to get a little watery.

* * *

Oh i bet you just love me now CLIFFHANGER! WAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA i planned to leave it there anyway. I'll make chapter nine the last one probably. Hope you enjoyed it ) 


	9. Silent Promises

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do own my own Mew Mew characters though.

Title: Bitter Sweet

Author: Mairi (DarkWingedAngelMairiel)

Proof Reader: Kaoru Saotome.

Warnings: OOCness,

Other notes: This is the **FINAL** chapter of this story

Summary: Aoyama is **_dead_**. FUN! Will Ichigo be awake or has the worst actually happened?

Pairings: Ryou x Ichigo, Kishu x Mint, Tart x Pudding, Pai x Lettuce, Keiichiro x OOC, Zakuro x Gin

* * *

_Where we left off:_

"Shirogane-san, Akasaka-san! Come quickly!" Lettuce shouted,

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ryou asked raising his voice that showed concern.

"It's Ichigo shes…" Mint started her eyes beginning to get a little watery.

**Chapter 9 Silent Promises **

"She's woken up!" Mint continued wiping a tear from her eye, she was happy that her friend had finally awoken from that deep sleep she seemed to be in. Ryou didn't respond to it instead he rushed by Mint, Lettuce and Pudding up the stairs and into the guest room where Ichigo had seemed to have returned to her normal cheery self, Zakuro and Kiwi had taken off the bandages and plasters, and fixed up her hair for her to. They glanced to Ryou who was standing at the doorway, almost crying to he didn't think she was going to wake up. The older girls got up and left, Zakuro prodding Ryou into the room more so she could close the door behind him. The others were now in the corridor, Mint was being so emotional that Pudding started crying with happiness. Kishu and Tart decided to comfort the two girls until they stopped.

Inside the room Ryou had made his way over to the bed and sat next to her.

"Ichigo, how are you feeling?" He asked, placing a hand on her head.

"A bit drowsy but fine, how long have I been asleep Shirogane-san?" She questioned.

"Uh. About two or three days?" He honestly couldn't remember the exact number of days she slept for, but it was long enough either way.

"Two or three days? My parents must be worrying so much!" She said getting a little paranoid.

"They're not. We covered it up by saying you were staying with Kiwi for a while to improve your English for school."

"And it worked?"

"Yep."

"Wow, and…what about, you know who…Aoyama? He hasn't come looking for me…has he?" She asked, getting quieter. Ryou's expression changed a little, he brought her into a hug and wasn't about to let her go even if she was squirming.

"He won't be bothering you ever again, and I mean ever."

"Where did he go?"

"Well, what happened is that… he came in and started up, we all dealt with him and then…Kishu finished him off."

"You mean Kishu killed him?"

"Yeah, he did."

"I see, ne Shiro-"

"Ryou."

"What?"

"Call me Ryou, instead of Shirogane-san."

"Ok then…Ryou?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you, for being there for me." She said a tint of red spreading over her cheeks. Ryou just chuckled at her, it was so cute. He took her chin in one hand and lowered his head to hers and kissed her. Ichigo went a shade redder but quickly hid it as she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him.

CRASH.

The door swung open and a pile of eavesdroppers fell through the space. Well most of them apart from Zakuro, Kiwi, Pai and Keiichiro.

"Damnit I told you not to lean on me to hard!" Mint wailed at Lettuce.

"Gomen Mint!"

"Ow, will you all get off of me! I'm being SQUISHED!" Kishu complained.

"NE! Look! Ichigo and Shirogane-san are kissing na no da!" Pudding shouted while pointing at the two of them.

"Oh yeah, the hag is kissing the lightbulb!" Tart laughed. Cue sweatdrops.

Ichigo and Ryou twitched at the names that Tart addressed them as and turned to the group, with eyes that looked like they had fire within them. Tart suddenly felt his life was on the edge.

"Ahahahaha, I was kidding guys." He said bringing his hand up, the others about him quickly got up and backed off to the side as the other two headed towards Tart. Tart's eyes widened and then…he was off like a shot, Ryou and Ichigo took off after him as well as Pudding.

"Well, I guess they'll be chasing him for a while. Do you think we'll need to call Ichigo's parents and tell her that she'll be sleeping at Kiwi's again?" Mint said.

"We'll probably need to." Zakuro replied.

"I don't mind really." Kiwi said, her arms behind her head as she watched the chase from the window. "How can they do that?"

"Since we're closed up how about we just get going?" Pai said taking Lettuce's arm and started to head off. Lettuce was blushing brighter than a tomato now.

"Seems like a good idea if you ask me," Kishu agreed taking Mint by the hand and wandering off. Zakuro caught onto this sly plan of theirs and decided to go along with it,

"Ah good thing to I have a date with Gin, laters." She said rather quickly, wandering off. Keiichiro had noticed that Kiwi was still staring out the window and sweat-dropped. He'd caught on after Zakuro had left the café he was wondering if she had caught onto it. Kiwi turned to him.

"They'll pay for doing that you know."

"You knew?"

"Yep. I think I'll do an april fools prank…oh…four months early."

"For some reason I can't bring myself to disagree, we do have a lot of things to clear up downstairs."

"Hehe, let's get started then." She said walking by him.

"Fancy going out to dinner afterwords?"

She stopped and turned her head a small smile on her face, then a nod.

"Love to."

Meanwhile, Ichigo and Ryou had lost trail of the small alien and came to stop at the park, they both sat down on one of the benches laughing now.

"Are you tired, Ichigo?"

"Not really, just out of breath from running after Tart. You?"

"Nope. Hey I realised that we just took off leaving the others to tidy up."

"Ah well. They won't mind." Ichigo giggled. Ryou laughed a bit to before giving her a peck on the cheek making her blush again.

"Ryou you're evil!" She said hiding her face with her hands,

"Awww, don't hide it. I think it's adorable."

"You do?" She asked, her eye peeking through the gap in her now parted fingers. Ryou gave a nod then hugged her again.

"Ichigo, do you…want to…go, out with…me?"

She glanced up to him, not knowing if she was going a deeper red. Ryou thought he'd just screwed up.

"I uh, well… I mean, that is…uh…if…you want..to."

"I will, Ryou."

"You will?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Yes!" She said hugging him tightly. They stayed on the bench embracing each other for a while longer and decided to head back to the café, they walked together, side by side, hand in hand. Ryou wouldn't let her go easily not for anyone or anything. From that moment on he vowed that he'd protect her with everything he had until the very end.

- Owari

* * *

teehee yes i got the response i was aiming for, a big hug to all of you P What did ya think of this chappie? to short? to long? not enough loviedovieness o.O if you call it that x) anyways i hope you liked it! Now >> if you've read my fic 'Opening Up' you'll be pleased to know that i've began setting out a plot for the sequel but i won't say what it's about. Keep looking at the profile page, i'll put a note of when the first chapter should be up by. Until then Ja ne! 


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